Odds &
Ends

1937 CRAD,
the prototype for the 39 Crosley.
It had a rear
tread of 18 inches to eliminate the need for a
differential. Built by
the Crosley Radio Auto Division.

This is the Crosley Lady, she was
sold in the
20's to put on display with Crosley radios to give a
home atmosphere.
She measures 3 foot tall and has Crosley Embossed cross
the back bottom
edge of the chair. Check out the Crosley
Lady
web site.

Crosley IcyBall - a refrigerator with
out a continuous
source of power.

The IcyBall is an intermittent heat absorption type of
refrigerator. A water/ammonia mixture is used as the
refrigerant .
Water and ammonia combine easily. So, they combine in
the hot ball at
room temperature.

The hot ball is heated for about 90 minutes once a day
to keep
your refrigerator cabinet cold.

According to 9/3/98 Old Cars the
company was
started in 1955 by Finn Hudson, but only 1
prototype was made in 1956.
The last time the prototype was seen was in
1974 in a private
collection. It is likely still around.

I also heard rumors of the Panda showing up
at an
Auto Auction in the late 80s early 90s.

Anyone know any more info.

Don Kline sent the picture above, of him at
age 15
driving the Panda in 1957. Below is his
addition to the Panda story.

"My Father purchased all of the inventory
from
Small
Cars Inc. in 1957 and gave me the Panda
automobile for my 15th
birthday. It had a yellow fiberglass body and
a red interior. The frame
and running gear was all Crosley. I noticed
that you indicated that the
Crosley engine was an option. The only way
that it was going to be
manufactured was with the Crosley engine,
transmission, rear end,
brakes and frame. They had another car that
they were going to
manufacture with a rear transaxle and air
cooled engine that I thought
was going to be the Panda Jr."

"We sold the Panda around 1960 and I saw it
on the
road
in Kansas City about 1964 for the last time.
My father passed away in
1991 and that closed the door on any other
information.

"At one time we had the fiberglass molds and
all
the
parts for 10 of them but nothing was done with
them. The parts were
sold at auction in 1992. I believe we may have
the plans and molds for
the aluminum trans-axle Panda Jr. if they were
not thrown out in our
last warehouse clean up."

Don Kline May 2000

By January, 1921,
Powel and Lewis
Crosley were well established in the mail-order auto
accessories
business with the American Automobile Accessories
Company.
Concerned over seasonal slumps in the market, Powel came
up with the
idea of manufacturing and selling phonographs, under the
trade name
"Amerinola." Within a month of their first
advertisement,
they
had to change the name to "Marion" (Lewis' middle name
and the name of
a favorite uncle) because of confusion a phonograph
called the
"Americanola." Thus, an Amerinola is a truly rare
item. - Mike Banks

Factoid

The 1939 Crosley body
panels were
stamped out by the Murray Corporation of America
(originally the Murray
Body Corporation). Murray, which had a history
of making
bodies
for Ford, Lincoln, and other big names, later became
the world's
largest manufacturer of pedal cars for children. - Mike Banks

Jokes

Crosley
jokes from Earl
Wilson's newspaper column for November 30, 1947, in
which he noted out
that several were recycled Model T Ford jokes.
He also said
that
when he went for a ride in a Crosley with Powel, the
latter said he
didn't mind the jokes because they were free
publicity.

• You don’t just order a Crosley
now—you get fitted for one.
• A woman went into Macy’s, where they sell
the car, to
get a Crosley for her husband. “Yes,
madam,” the
salesman said, “what sleeve length?”
• A Crosley’s so convenient you
don’t park it—you wear it at the end of your watch
chain.
• A Broadway wolf grumbled, “I want to take
my girl out
in my car to neck. Now I take her out of my
car to
neck.”
• They swear at Macy’s that a customer
ordered two
Crosleys for birthday gifts and asked that
they be delivered
at
certain doorsteps wrapped in cellophane.
• If you have a Crosley and also have a
chauffer,
where does the chauffer sit? At home,
probably.
• “You can’t buy a Crosley under
the table but you can keep it under the table.
• A Crosley’s easy to park—put it
in the kitchen cabinet with the other tinware.
• If a Crosley (Ford) hogs the road, don’t
go around it, go over it.
--Mike Banks

The sale of the contents of the Crosley Motors
Plant #1 at 2530 Spring Grove Avenue Cincinnati, Ohio.
This was
probably after AeroJet stopped engine production.
From the
June
18, 1955 edition of the Lima News and the Cincinnati Post,
et al. (Mike
Banks)

President Eisenhower's Crosley

Caption says it
was custom made for the President.
Not sure of
the time table when Ike owned this Crosley.

Last I heard the car was still at the
Eisenhower
farm in PA.

Crosley Xervac

A rare Crosley patented and marketed, medical
device.

The Xervac is a machine that was to enhance
hair
growth. It
used a helmet and a vacuum pump to apply suction
to the scalp to
stimulate hair growth. The Xervac was invented
to apply into practice
the theory of Dr. Andre' A. Cueto.